McGuireWoods LLP announced today that it has completed its planned agreement to combine operations with the Houston, Texas-based firm of Nickens Keeton Lawless Farrell & Flack LLP (Nickens Keeton). In addition to officially opening the firm’s first Houston office, McGuireWoods is also announcing the establishment of a presence in Austin, Texas, and welcoming several new partners in the insurance and energy industries.
David L. Ronn and Peter del Vecchio join McGuireWoods in Houston as partners with the firm’s expanding energy group. Both join from Greenberg Traurig, bringing more than 20 years of experience in representing a variety of national and international clients. Ronn concentrates his practice on representing clients in a wide range of corporate and securities matters, with particular focus in the energy and technology industries. These matters have included mergers and acquisitions of public and private entities, master limited partnerships, and initial and secondary public offerings, among many others. Ronn is a LEED accredited professional, sits on the board of the U.S. Green Building Council, Texas Gulf Coast Chapter, and has worked on various energy efficiency and green building projects.
Del Vecchio focuses his practice on representing developers, owners, financiers and constructors of power plants and other energy production facilities, with transactional matters dealing with energy and infrastructure. Many of these projects have included pipelines, gas storage facilities, transmission lines and other product transportation systems, transportation and other infrastructure projects. Del Vecchio had formerly been a vice president and assistant general counsel at one of the wholesale subsidiaries of Enron.
In Austin, partner Mark Lawless and senior counsel Pamella Hopper join McGuireWoods as part of the Nickens Keeton team. Establishing the firm’s first presence in Austin, Lawless and Hopper are insurance attorneys who represent corporate policyholders in insurance coverage matters and disputes, and will work to expand McGuireWoods’ insurance recovery practice group’s geographical footprint. Lawless has more than 20 years experience handling first- and third-party coverage disputes, including claims under commercial general liability, directors and officers, error and omissions, as well as property and business interruption coverage. He is the founder and past chair of the Insurance Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and frequently lectures on insurance issues.
“Mark is a pioneer on insurance coverage issues and both David and Peter have a tremendous amount of experience in energy transaction matters. We feel these additions of our new partners will help us get a fast start as we open our doors in Texas,” said Tom Cabaniss, managing partner of McGuireWoods. “We are excited to put their experience to use for our clients as we continue to look for opportunities to further expand our Texas footprint.”
McGuireWoods first announced its expansion into Texas in November, when it announced that it was combining practices with the Houston-based firm of Nickens Keeton. The agreement was approved by the partnerships of both firms and became official on Jan. 1, 2011. Tom Farrell, a partner who joins McGuireWoods with the Nickens Keeton move, will serve as the Houston office managing partner.
